Catcote : In-depth Information

An excavation organised by Durham University in 1964 uncovered a round house and human burials but no further work took place until 1987, when an earlier Bronze Age settlement and a rectangular Romano-British building were discovered on the north side of the hill.

In 1998 Tees Archaeology, Durham University and the Summerhill Woodland Centre established an annual research and training programme. This allows 4 weeks of further excavation every summer involving students and volunteers.

The Bronze Age inhabitants of Catcote would have been farmers, growing crops of wheat and barley and raising cattle and sheep, their diet supplemented by hazelnuts and wild fruits. Routeways and enclosures were developed to handle the large number of livestock and it seems probable that the farming of animals was more important than the cultivation of cereals at this time. Such organisation suggests a relatively large, prosperous, co-operative and structured society.

Whilst the Bronze Age settlers favoured the valley bottom, the later Iron Age and Romano-British site lies on the crest and east-facing slope of the hill. By now most of the woodland had been cleared, allowing cereal cultivation on a much larger scale. The rectangular Romano-British building discovered in 1987 may have served as a grainstore.

While Catcote was a major Iron Age settlement it became far more prosperous with the Roman Conquest of the North at the end of the 1st Century AD. It seems to have controlled local trade with coastal shipping supplying the northern garrison.

Bronze Age Settlement at Catcote (800 BC)

The Bronze Age settlement was in a completely different location to the later Iron Age and Romano-British ones. It lay to the immediate north of the hill in a sheltered valley with well drained gravel soils. The present Summerhill Visitor Centre and access road to it occupy much the same position.

The settlement seems to have been made up of a series of enclosures set out on both sides of a routeway which ran along the valley. These enclosures had entrances from the routeway and the post holes of small buildings were found within the enclosures.

Iron Age & Romano-British Settlement at Catcote (200 BC - 400 AD)

Whilst the Bronze Age settlement was in the valley bottom, the later Iron Age and Romano-British site is based on the crest and east facing slopes of the hill. We still have a very incomplete picture of this settlement. In the Iron Age it seems to have comprised a system of routeways linking fenced and ditched enclosures containing roundhouses. Later developments include rectangular stone buildings.

Each enclosure may well have contained a farmstead. To date, one enclosure has been explored in detail. It shows evidence of intensive use over a long period with houses being rebuilt on the same site many times. The geophysical survey of the settlement (Fig. 7) shows many inter-cutting ditches which suggests renewal and alteration of boundaries over a long period of time.

The evidence of the enclosures, buildings and finds from the site all point to a relatively large and prosperous settlement. This continued through to the end of the Roman period and possibly beyond it.

By the Iron Age most of the woodland had been cleared. Cereal farming had become of equal importance to livestock farming. We see fields and farms re-organised to reflect this. The population had also increased and people lived in tribes under chieftains. The Iron Age saw the creation of defended settlements, such as Catcote, as land for agriculture became scarce and competition for it grew.

The impact of the Roman conquest on the Tees Valley is still poorly understood. The area was part of the militarised zone of the north but there seems to have been little Roman military presence. There is, however, increasing evidence that the economic activity and culture of the Roman Empire had an impact on the area. There was widespread re-organisation of field systems and some adoption of Roman ideas such as villas and rectangular rather than round buildings.

At Catcote the Roman conquest does not seem to have disrupted the settlement. In fact it may have become wealthier as a result of increased trade.

Farming

Unfortunately the animal bone from Catcote is not generally well preserved. From the fragmentary material that survives, cattle and sheep are well represented and suggest that livestock farming was still a major part of the economy. Cereals were are also plentiful. Wheat and barley were the main species present with some oats and peas. Beehive quern stones from the site confirm the processing of grain to flour. There is no particular evidence of major changes to farming practices throughout the period of occupation.

A rectangular Romano-British building (see Fig. 16) may have served as a grain store. It contained large amounts of barley. There was a great deal of chaff from cereal processing to the immediate west of this building suggesting that part of one enclosure may have been set aside for cereal processing and storage.

While the basis of the economy of the settlement was farming, there is evidence to suggest that other activities were taking place.

Map Reference NZ 566 184

Catcote

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